Kanye West Complex April/May 2009 (Cover Photo & Video)

Martin Louis The King, perhaps better known as Kanye West, covers the April/May 2009 issue of Complex Magazine. Hip-hop’s Style Don is promoting the release of two new shoe lines, The Air Yeezy brand, in cooperation with Nike, as well as his highly-publicized Kanye West for Louis Vuitton collection.

In the mag’s seventh anniversary issue, the self-proclaimed egomaniac sounds off on the recession, his beefs with the media, and the infamous backstage meltdown at the 2007 Video Music Awards.

So what would you say was the most important thing you learned about yourself in the last 12 months?
Kanye West:That I can be a very level-headed person. I would never spaz on MTV the way I did before. I feel like there are people who have given a lot to me and I wasn’t appreciative of them. MTV had a major part in making me, so how the hell could I ever come out my mouth and dis them and just be like the cry baby-ass bitch over one performance? How the hell is a 29-year-old grown-ass man acting like a little bitch and getting all emotional? How spoiled can I get?

Did you consider how a recession might affect the reception of the “Martin Louis King” video you made in Paris?
Kanye West: People tune into me for escapism. When you went to the Glow in the Dark Tour, you were literally transported to another planet. I know there’s anti-rich sentiment right now, with corporate people not using their jets and Obama saying heads of banks can’t make more than $500,000, but I really feel like that tape embodied me and what Louis Vuitton is about. I’d like to think I give optimism to people when I stunt. When I have a pink watch on or tight jeans on, people talk shit about me, but if I wore all gray and black, who would be the one to wear all the bright colors? How depressing would it be if I was always depressed, or should I say, the press. I’m here to entertain people and to be the one that does the crazy, bold stuff so they can live through me and get their mind off the recession and the war and whatever else is going on in the world.